A new hobby

Fat Quarters from the Viking Loom

Although I do really enjoy knitting sometimes it takes so very, very long to get things finished (see the Stripy Jumper of Doom and the Featherweight cardie) and it can be very nice to do something where I can make quicker progress. You might say "try crochet" and I know that crochet is much quicker than knitting and still the yarn family of crafts but I can't crochet. I really can't crochet. I'm not being difficult it's just that my wrists don't like it and my hands think it's weird. They just won't crochet. The most I can manage is a crocheted seam. The way the fabric is constructed makes no sense to me. So it's a definite no to crochet despite liking some of the beautiful patterns by Doris Chan and the colourful projects that Lucy churns out at an amazing rate over at Attic24.

So I'm turning to quilting. Quilting looks like it's not too hard, there's scope to be creative, there are some quite gorgeous fabrics and the end product is useful. And it doesn't take too long. I have a book of weekend quilting projects and some fat quarters from the Viking Loom in York. I've since acquired a layer cake from The Little Fabric Store and Lily has been kindly giving me advice about quilting over on Ravelry.

So my planned quilting project is a lap quilt for my mum for Christmas all hand sewn (my sewing machine is intimidating - a vintage electric converted Singer that could be used in a strong man competition it's that heavy)  using some of the Moda Dea layer cake in Fandango and quilted with buttons rather than sewn quilting. This plan might change quite significantly and I'm getting her books as a fall back position

Posh Primrose

Evening Primrose

Please forgive the messy bookcase although if you're an avid peruser of other people's books then feel free to zoom on in. The bear is called Bear and roars like a dinosaur as the Build a Bear workshop was out of growls

So this very pretty thing is my finished Evening Primrose test knit for Wonk who is producing an e-book of her wonderful accessories (patterns also available individually). I've admired Wonk's work for some time so jumped at the chance to test this for her. I used my precious skein of Posh Sylvia 4ply in Anywhere but Here which suits the pattern perfectly so I'm glad I stopped 'saving it for something special' and used it for something very special.

So keep an eye out for Wonk's e-book, it will be well worth the wait

Ally Pally

Ally Pally bus shelter

So you know it's going to be a good show when you see a bus shelter decorated as a tester bed.

It was my first time at the Ally Pally Knitting and Stitching Show. I went to Harrogate last year and Birmingham two years before that. I was expecting it to be big, busy and full of woolly goodness and I wasn't wrong.

Some highlights were the lovely lady on the Making Magazine stand, and the stunning and very well dressed ladies at Arbour House, the 10g for 50p random skeins on Colinette, and the Yorkshire Book Company (like book companies used to be...)

And the biggest highlight was the distinct lack of papercrafting stuff. So nice to have a knitting and stitching show that was all about knitting and stitching (and crochet)

The biggest surprise was how restrained I was, especially in comparison to my sisters who each came away with two jumpers worth of yarn and some other stuff although that was because they fell into the Black Sheep yarn mountain and I live quite close to Black Sheep so can visit them at any time. Here's my haul

Ally Pally Haul

That's Knitted Lace of Estonia at the back, and then from left to right: some pretty vintage style ribbons, a normal sized skein of Jitterbug in Popsicle, a smaller skein of Jitterbug in Fire (I think), a small skein of Art, 250g of aran weight wool/mohair and lurking at the back is a Zauberball Laceweight in Cranberries.

I was very, very good - not least because I had a delivery of Ethical Twist DK wool/alpaca from Kemps last week...

On the needles:


My Featherweight Cardie is taking shape. I'm knitting the collar at the moment and then have the sleeves to do. It's looking pretty good so far but I will be pleased when it's done. It's not been an interesting knit but it will be a useful garment. It's taking a short break whilst I do a test knit for Wonk on Ravelry which is...

Evening Primrose in Posh Sylvia 4ply

...not photographing well at all. It's really pretty in real life. It's an end to end (or side to side depending on how you look at things) scarf that forms a wide crescent shape with a deep lace border. It's knit in Posh Yarn Sylvia 4ply in 'anywhere but here'. I love this yarn. It's got wonderful stitch definition and an amazing subtle colourway. It looks a bit washed out here for which I blame a new phone and therefore a new camera that I've not worked out and the rare Manchester sunshine. I'll take better pictures when it's finished. The pattern will be in Wonk's new ebook when it's released and is called Evening Primrose

Testing times

Aces 8

This lovely thing is a new scarf pattern from Kerry Tessyman on Ravelry. As she tested Pergola for me I offered to test Aces 8 for her. It's a lovely, intuitive pattern available in a scarf or stole size. This one is knit in cream cashmere from a Black Sheep sale and is like knitting with butter it's so soft.

Test knitting is one of the many things that Ravely is brilliant for. I wouldn't have released any patterns without the help and support of test knitters found through there

At last some knitting content

For various reasons last week was very busy which means no time to blog. I did have time to do some knitting here and there and I do have a finished item to show you!

When I first started this blog my eldest brother made a casual comment about wanting a handknit scarf. Since I like knitting for people who actually want to be knit for I decided this was a good idea. Some back and forth via email and a cabled, tweedy scarf was the brief. My family has some Irish heritage way back when so cables seemed like a nice link.

So the search was on for the perfect pattern. I trawled the internet, devoured the Ravelry pattern database, scoured my stitch dictionary but to no avail. Nothing was quite perfect. Or at least the things that appealed were really complicated and I am at best an advanced beginner with cables. And then I came across a saxon braid cable, even better I came across the incredibly well written, "design a cable" tutorial using the saxon braid motif on Eunny Jang's old blog (link in a post somewhere below - it really is excellent). I loved it, and more importantly understood it enough to make it knittable but I would still learn something.

Then the search for the yarn began...and ended in a drawer in the spare room where I had a large skein of New Lanark DK tweed in a lovely dark blue. That bit was easy

And so to the knitting...

As I was using Eunny Jang's saxon braid chart I won't be writing this up as a pattern but I'll tell you what I did. I cast on 34 stitches on 4.5mm needles and worked 10 rows of moss stitch. On the next row I worked 7 stitches in moss stitch, placed a marker, then knit the first row of the chart, placed a second marker, realised I should have cast on 35 stitches, decided it added to the artisan nature of the piece (sorry John) and then worked the last 6 stitches in moss stitch. I carried on like this to the end of the saxon braid chart and the continued into a wide rib for 20 rows, then a braid, the 20 rows and so on until I'd worked 8 braid+rib sections and then worked a final braid, repeated the 8 rows of moss stitch and then cast off. A slow block later I had a lovely scarf fit for an international man of mystery like my brother.

And here it is...

John's scarf

This is a birthday present but I've already sent him the link to my Ravelry project page so it's not a secret.

Lassitude - indolent indifference

I am back from holiday, a holiday of doing nothing but drinking wine and eating bread, cheese and lovely French and Catalan food in a sleepy little village about an hour from Perpignan.

Some highlights:

The view from the balcony

This is the view of the Vingrau cliffs from the balcony. These cliffs look peachy-pink in the sunset and are even more spectacular close up. You can see eagles catching thermals round the cliffs and at the base there's an excellent Catalan restaurant called Lou Barrel.

Drain pipes with character

In the village where we stayed there were a number of very entertaining drain pipes. This was my favourite - a slightly startled snake - but there were also some lovely lions

Vineyards

We were in the Midi-Pyrenees which has a lot of vineyards some owned by big companies and some by village co-operatives. This one is at the bottom of the Vingrau cliffs stretching out into the valley. There are some lovely wines some of which can be found in the UK like Mont Tauch wines.

Wild harvest

Everywhere we went there was wild harvest. Fennel and wild thyme grew all over the vineyards and up the mountains. On the side of the roads there were these amazing blackberries that were so sweet and juicy that we couldn't resist gathering up for eating later. In the carpark at the Chateau Aguilar we found these lovely ripe figs that were quite amazing. Foraged food in the sun is somehow better than food from a shop...

Mountain Goats

As we flew with BMI Baby I couldn't take any knitting so this is the only vaguely knitting content to this blog post. We went for a drive (my husband likes the mountain roads far more than I do...) and followed a road that took us up Mont Tauch itself to see where the road went. Along the way we discovered signs for a mohair farm but as we were halfway up a mountain, and the sign led down a dirt track and we were in a Seat Leon we decided not to venture further. It was a beautiful day so what you can see behind the sign is actually cloud. And we were in a Seat Leon!

And finally a winner

Sorry to be late posting this but life has got in the way this week. My favourite name for the textured shawlette is Mizzle from Plumbum so she will win whichever of the Araucania or the Knitting Goddess she prefers.

That being said I also have another shawlette in the planning which will have different construction but a similar feel so I'm stealing Samantha's Cityscape for that one. Whichever yarn Plumbum doesn't prefer will go to Samantha.

You gave some great suggestions so I'm definitely doing this again at some point. I loved the literary ones

In other news, I have been finishing things:

The stripy jumper of doom

This jumper is finally finished (apologies for the rubbish picture - it looks great on) having been OTN since January. The yarn is Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran from one of the Kemps grab bags

Peggy Sue got Buttons

And Peggy Sue is also finished with some modifications and another awful photo. I did the sleeves in the round until the elbow and then ribbed flat with buttonholes. I knit the 38" which was always going to be too big so added lots of waist shaping. Again this looks better on

And I made ginger cake but I don't have a photo of that